Cristi Chivu broke the curse! Big win with Juventus: first derby won in his coaching career
Cristi Chivu is the first in Italy, but the Romanian coach had a big problem: Inter had not stumbled against the small teams, but neither had they won a derby, in the confrontations with AC Milan, Juventus and Napoli. He broke the curse last night, beating Juventus 3-2 after a dramatic game, with the winning goal coming in extra time.
Cristi Chivu's unbridled joy after a historic success. Photo Facebook Inter
Inter started extremely poorly in the match against Italy's biggest rival, Juventus. The guests crowded Cristi Chivu's students into their own half, who had no reply in the first minutes. However, after several misses by the “Old Lady”, the goal fell right into the goal of the Turinese. Luis Henrique threw a ball into the box and Cambiasso deflected it into his own goal (17th minute). The same Cambiasso managed to correct his mistake 10 minutes later when he scored again, but this time in the right goal: 1-1.
The end of the first half brought an unexpected gift for Inter. Juventus remained in 10 after Pierre Kalulu saw his second yellow card and was sent off. The referee's decision was totally wrong, as the French defender had no contact with Bastoni. What's more, Cristi Chivu's player could have been eliminated, for simulation, given that he already had a yellow card. The video referee could not intervene, because the protocol does not include the correction of decisions regarding the awarding of yellow cards, VAR being able to interfere in the decisions of the “central” only when a straight red is given.
Electrifying final in the Italian derby
With an extra man, Inter took control of the match, balanced the game's statistics and even struck through Pio Esposito (76), introduced in the second half by the Romanian coach. The end of the match brought the Milanese technician a yellow card for protests (82), but also an uppercut: Locatelli equalized in cold blood, after a pass in the box by McKennie (83): 2-2.
It looked like the Romanian would have to wait a little longer to get the first derby win of his tenure in big football. But Zielinski scored in extra time, with a shot from outside the box, which luckily went into the net of the Juve goal: 3-2, revenge for the match in the round, when the Turinese finally turned from 2-3 to 4-3.
Inter remains first in Italy, having 8 points over AC Milan. However, the rival from the city still has a backlog to play, on Wednesday, with Como, and the big match between the two fellow townspeople is fast approaching. The derby, scheduled for March 8, will probably decide the fate of the Serie A title, and Cristi Chivu can dream well. The curse of failures with teams of the size of his formation has ended, so the Romanian can repeat Inter's victory from April 2024 and can end a black series, of 6 games in which the Nerazzurri did not feel the joy of success in front of the great rival.
